Finsia & Accounting Vac Work (1 Viewer)

[Maori]

Hi guys,

I got a serious question I wanna ask. I completed my Commerce degree majoring in economics last year, and got accepted into Honours. However, for certain reasons I took the year off to earn some money and deferred it til next year. I decided to take the FINSIA course throughout the year to keep up my studying skills and will have a majority of it done by the end of the year. Also, being in the workforce, it quickly became clear to me that having a major in finance rather than eco makes you a lot more employable.

Anyway, I've now decided to apply to the Big 4. There are very few areas available to Eco majors. What I am curious about is whether they would see FINSIA studies as being equivalent to a Finance major at Uni, and whether I could then apply to areas requiring Finance majors?

What are all your thoughts on this?

 

[turtleface]

wow are you sure there are far less opportunities for Economics grads than Finance grads? Or do you mean only if you don't have a Honours in economics?

I can think of VERY few jobs that actually require a Finance major. Maybe trading and stock broking. For the others an Economics or accounting major is substitutable

In big 4 a lot of the corporate finance people do GradDip AppFin&Inv after they start working, so you may be able to go there. The other option I can think of is the quantitative Risk management areas.

 

[Maori]

I guess what I was trying to get at was that it's been my general impression that the Big 4 tend to look more favourably upon Finance graduates as opposed to Economics graduates. I could be wrong though. I guess I'm confused how much interrelation there is between Finance and Accounting. I learned a shitload of Financial Statement analysis stuff this year. Don't they see that as a fair amount of exposure to accounting as opposed to economics where you get none at all? (Omigod, that's probably an embarrassingly newbie question )

I guess the other hurdle I'll have to clear if I'm going to get accepted is expressing my enthusiasm for working in Accounting. I definitely look more favourably upon it now than I did back in first year where I dropped it straight away as I found it dead boring. I now see how fundamental accounting is to business as a whole.

The point is though, I'm only really interested in the Big 4 to develop good skills that transfer to the types of industries I really want to get into, ie. trading/stockbroking/funds management etc...

Anyway, I'm pretty confident that if I make the interviews (which I should, my marks are decent and I'm putting a lot of effort into the applications) that I have a good chance. I can definitely talk the talk having been to a ridiculous amount of interviews applying for jobs in my gap year this year.

How much do you guys think it's just showing you have a good personality, and how much do you think it's having to have decent accounting experience?

 

[stalon001]

I m not sure but would not it be better if u get the experience in the mid-tier firms-> to get your skills+experience up-> then going for big4. Actually nah go for the big4, i reckon u shud go for all of them at a time ..u never kno ..all the best

 

[Maori]

No, mid-tier firms hire exclusively accounting graduates while the Big 4 are more diversified.

 

[redruM]

What are you doing at FINSIA?

 

[Maori]

Hmm. Same which you seem to be doing apparently (GDAFI). Last semester I did Financial Analysis and Valuation, and Financial Markets and Economics.

That's promising tho, that you're doing Finsia and going to Deloitte. Did they want you to do it, or was that something you chose to do yourself? Is GDAFI a major course at the Big 4?

 

[redruM]

Nah, I chose to do it on my own accord. I don't think it is a major course at Big 4 firms (as turtleface said, there would be a fair few in their Corporate Finance division), but I guess I'll ask around when I get started.

How did you go in C2? What is the assignment/exam like? They've made it out to be the hardest course with a fail rate of 30%. Someone from an accouting background has an advantage though...

What are you doing this sem?

(If you use MSN, feel free to add me. Maybe I can bug you with a couple more questions )

 

[ND]

I can think of VERY few jobs that actually require a Finance major. Maybe trading and stock broking. For the others an Economics or accounting major is substitutable

Trading doesn't require a finance major. I'm sure most banks would rather take a math or engineering grad over a finance grad. In fact, over in the US and UK, i don't think that you would find many finance grads on the trading floor.

The point is though, I'm only really interested in the Big 4 to develop good skills that transfer to the types of industries I really want to get into, ie. trading/stockbroking/funds management etc...

It will be very difficult to transfer from big4 to trading - the banks will only take someone with experience in trading after the grad programs. Also, the usual route into funds management is trading/sales/research (if you didn't start in IM as a grad), so you may also find it difficult getting into funds management (though it may be easier than transferring to trading).

 

[velox]

You need quant skills for trading, that's it.

 

[theone123]

Nah, I chose to do it on my own accord. I don't think it is a major course at Big 4 firms (as turtleface said, there would be a fair few in their Corporate Finance division), but I guess I'll ask around when I get started.

How did you go in C2? What is the assignment/exam like? They've made it out to be the hardest course with a fail rate of 30%. Someone from an accouting background has an advantage though...

What are you doing this sem?

(If you use MSN, feel free to add me. Maybe I can bug you with a couple more questions )

my brother did C2 last trimester, and the assignment is alrite, final isnt that bad either... i think you will kill it, its rather ratio anaylsis-ish subject.

 

[redruM]

my brother did C2 last trimester, and the assignment is alrite, final isnt that bad either... i think you will kill it, its rather ratio anaylsis-ish subject.

I was so hoping I could pick up Financial Statement Analysis at uni. It would kill 2 birds with 1 arrow (would have been an extra, unnecessary, subject, but they would have complemented each other well). Pity it wasn't offered.

 

[Maori]

Alright dudes. It is so bloody late, I'm braindead... I've completed the applications for KPMG and PwC. I'm all but done on Deloitte and EY, I just need to finetune a few details about why I want to work in the sectors I've chosen. I'm hoping I could perhaps look to you guys for some inspiration.

Anyone care to offer insight about the Consulting and Transaction Advisory sectors of Deloitte and EY, ie. a general rundown about what they involve and what highlights about them I should mention in my application? (Translated from the gibberish they give you on the webpages )

I assume a Finance major is satisfactory for Transaction Advisory by the way...? They better bloody well accept my FINSIA studies, I'm not spending $5000 this year for nothing lol.

 

[Maori]

Hey where did everyone go??

 

[turtleface]

I think a Finance major is satisfactory for KPMG Corporate Finance. Not sure about the others.